Everything Irish from an American Perspective

NELL - Gorgeous cover - coming April 2012

2012-02-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

The Road to Here Guest Post

2012-02-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

http://squirrelqueen2.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-author-jeanette-baker.html

Pump up Your Books Blog Post

2012-02-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

Pump Up Your Book Chats with Jeanette Baker

Author Interviews, Featured — By Tracee Gleichner on February 9, 2012 at 2:45 pm

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About Jeanette Baker

Jeanette Baker is the award-winning author of fifteen novels, published by Pocket, Kensington and Mira Books, many of them set in the lush countryside of historical and contemporary Ireland where she lives and writes during the summer months. Her ancestors, the O’Flahertys, hail from Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands located off the coast of Galway. She takes great pride in the prayer posted by the English over the ancient city gates, ‘From the wrath of the O’Flahertys, may the good Lord deliver us.’
Lauded as an author who has created a niche in the world of the time-travel paranormal, Jeanette’s previous stories have all taken place in Scotland and Ireland. Convinced that America has its own mystical elements, she set WITCH WOMAN in Salem, Massachusetts.
Jeanette graduated from the University of California at Irvine and holds a Masters Degree in Education. For the remainder of the year, she teaches in Southern California, reads constantly, attempts to navigate the confusing world of Facebook and, more recently e-publishing, concocts creations from interesting cook books and enjoys the company of friends and her grown children. She is the RITA award-winning author of the paranormal NELL.
You can visit Jeanette’s website at jeanettebaker.com

The Interview

Thank you for this interview, Jeanette. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later? Do you remember your first published piece?
A: You’re welcome. I don’t remember doing much writing at all as a child. Today, there is much more emphasis placed upon writing than there was when I was young. My first recollection that writing could be fun, satisfying and powerful was in my high school journalism class. I wrote a short fictional piece that was, according to the teacher, superior to the others turned in. My first published piece was a newspaper article where I compared a teacher’s first day of school to a soldier on the front lines, humorous of course.
What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?
A: Frustrating: lack of control over covers, marketing and print runs, books staying on bookstore shelves for a brief 3 months, bookstores closing, men shying away from reading women authors.
Rewarding: Seeing my words in print and my books for sale in bookstores, airports and online, wonderful reviews, appreciative readers, fans, the pleasure of writing a spot on scene.
Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life? Do you have support?
A: Technically, I’m a widow. My late husband died 6 years ago after a brief and difficult illness. Unbelievably, and unexpectedly, I fell in love again and am now engaged to be married in May. Who would have thought?
In addition to being the author of 17 novels, I am a 6th grade teacher. It’s wonderful to have a steady paycheck and it comes in handy for paying the bills, braces on the kid’s teeth as well as the hope of a secure pension. I’m my own support, financially, but I also have two adult children who have been with me through joy and sorrow every step of the way. My son is beginning medical school in the fall and my daughter, recently married last September, lives nearby. My fiancé is a wonderful man who reads all my books.
What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing? Where do you like to vacation? Can you tell us briefly about this?
A: Traveling and cooking are my favorite things to do. I love perusing recipe books and creatingsomething delicious. Next on the list, would be meeting a friend for breakfast. I live in Co. Kerry, Ireland during the summer months. My family is Irish and my fiancé has a home there. I do most of my writing in the summer. It’s cool and misty, the tea kettle is always on and the scenery is spectacular. Most of my novels are set in Ireland. Castles dot the hillsides and history calls from around every bend.
If you could be anywhere in the world for one hour right now, where would that place be and why?
A: If I can include a slight blip in time, I would go back 30 years to my parent’s house, specifically their dining room table during the dinner hour. I would revel in their conversation, their affection for each other and their children, and their thoughtful and enlightened conversation. I miss them very much.
Who is your biggest fan?
A: My best friend’s husband, an ex-English teacher and closet writer.
Where’s your favorite place to write at home?
A: My colorful family room, near the fireplace, seated on my tartan plaid couch, legs curled beneath me and my laptop on my lap.
Do you have any pets?
A: I am currently without pets.
Tell us a secret no one else knows.
A: I’m a registered Democrat in Orange County, California. My family calls this living behind the Orange Curtain.
What’s on your to do list today?
A: Teaching compare/contrast essays to my 6th graders and, later, trying out a beef stew recipe from Cooking Light Magazine that features Guinness stout. After that, I’ll fill out the financial aid application for my son’s first year at Pritzker Medical School, University of Chicago.
Now I’ve got a couple of fun questions for you. If Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away, unearthed a copy of your book, how would that help him find a way off the island?
A: Tom would become familiar with the spells of Wicca, merge his spirit with the flora and fauna of his island, send his “help” message through fire and water, across earth and air and, soon, rescuers would flock to him.
You have a chance to appear on the hit talent show for authors, American Book Idol, with judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara Dioguardi and the newest addition, Ellen DeGeneres, to determine whether your book will make it to Hollywood and become a big screenplay where you’d make millions of dollars. What would impress them more – your book cover, an excerpt or your author photo – and why?
A: My goodness! I can truly say I’ve never had anyone ask a question like this before. I’m going to choose the excerpt, mostly because the people you’ve selected are impressed by talent, not the wrapper and Witch Woman’s cover, gorgeous as it is, is just a cover for the real treat within. So is my photo. You probably know that most authors go all out for their photos, even the casual relaxed photos of men and women leaning against a fence or sitting on the porch. My author photos are beautifully posed, touched up and carefully chosen, but still just a cover for me, the person within.
You just got word that your book has received the 2010 NY Times Bestselling Book Award and you have to attend the ceremony to give an acceptance speech. Anyone who’s anyone will be there and it’s your shot for stardom. What would you say and who would you thank?
A: NY Times Bestselling Book Award – I wish. I would thank my mother, always my mother, for forbidding me to read during the day if the sun was shining outside. I credit her completely because I spent most of my life doing exactly the opposite of what she told me to do. Without her I wouldn’t have become the voracious reader and writer that I am. May she rest in peace.
I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in February 2012 via a virtual book tour. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?
A: Times have changed and continue to change dramatically. Online promotion is one of the positives. Getting the word out about my books from the comfort of my own home is a wonderful way to advertise. I’m an introvert. Blogs specifically dedicated to writers and readers have made promotion and interaction with readers a pleasure for me.
Thank you for this interview, Jeanette. Good luck on your virtual book tour!
A: You’re very welcome. Thanks for featuring me on your blog. Your questions were thought-provoking and fun. This interview took me longer than most, I really had to think, but I had fun.

About Witch Woman

The first time Maggie McBride set foot in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts she was two years old, completely alone and stark naked. Now, thirty years later, a clairvoyant with a gift for profiling kidnappers, she is back to fulfill a personal quest. Armed with an ancient spinning wheel inherited from Annie McBride, her adoptive mother, she intends to solve the mystery of her sudden, unexpected appearance in The Old Burying Point Cemetery. Her only clue is the recurring dream of a woman from another time, a woman with a spinning wheel, an unusual whistle, and the same genetic mutation Maggie has, one brown eye, the other blue. As Maggie’s spinning improves, her ability to visit the past strengthens and she finds herself being drawn into a world that existed four centuries before, a terrifying world she would have inhabited except for the courage and magick of one woman.
Abigail-1692
In the meeting room, Inquisitors advance upon Abigail March and her child, Margaret She marshals her powers and channels the forces of nature. The world shifts and blackens. A strange roaring obliterates all sound and the air is thick with smoke. Bystanders are painfully seared, unable to move or breathe. Eventually, the air clears. But Abigail has been only partially successful. Three-year-old Margaret has disappeared through a time portal. For years Abigail searches to recall it. One night as the earth passed between the moon and sun, she is able to slip through the window, but the small community of Salem is no longer recognizable. Abigail turns to her powers and her spinning, sending out her summons to the universe, mindful of her shrinking time table, the enemies who followed her and the narrowing portal that will lead her home.

Redroom Guest Post

2012-02-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

5 Must Haves to Look for in a Publisher by Author Jeanette Baker

Blog Post by Tracee Gleichner - Feb.08.2012 - 7:38 am

5 “Must Haves” to Look for in a Publisher

Despite the surging sales of self-published eBooks and the potential success shown to writers by the Amanda Hockings of the world, (the woman who made millions self-publishing her eBooks and then contracted with St. Martin’s Press for a healthy royalty split) most authors prefer writing to advertising. Successful self-promotion requires enormous amounts of time, time we would rather spend creating than selling. Therefore, the subject of what to look for in publisher is, I think, an important one to consider. After much thought, two decades of writing for large publishing houses, and the launch of my first self-published eBook, WITCH WOMAN, I’ve narrowed the topic to the following 5 must haves in a publisher:
A reasonable reversion of rights clause which includes e-books

There will be a time, when you and your current publisher part ways. When this happens, and it will, the severing will be easier if you have the equivalent of a pre-nuptial agreement with that publisher which includes the ability for you, the author, to publish your books again, in print and electronically, either with a new publisher or on your own. A reasonable length of time is somewhere around the 5 year mark, particularly if your book has not been reissued. Because of surging eBook sales, publishers are becoming more and more reluctant to return these rights. Beware and make this clause a deal-breaker. The alternative is to effectively give away your ability to bring your books out again at a much higher royalty rate than offered by a traditional publisher.

Hands off foreign rights

Foreign rights, when kept by the author, can be amazingly lucrative. Midlist authors in the U.S. have reaped sales and gained celebrity status in Europe and Asia due to foreign publishers. Large publishers will deny an author her royalties on foreign sales until an advance is earned out. Don’t let them. Insist on keeping your foreign sales.

Cover approval

Covers are huge. They determine who picks up the book to read the back cover copy which leads to the sale. An author’s vision of the cover of her novel is rarely the same as the publisher’s art department. It’s difficult for a fledging author to insist on sending a cover back to the artist, but it isn’t difficult to send suggestions and ask for an approval clause up front in the contract. Most publishers request that an author send ideas, photos, even colors but, in the end, what drives sales is based on what previously worked for other books in your genre. If you would be terribly embarrassed to see a shirtless hero and half-dressed heroine on your cover, suggest that a cover approval clause be part of your contract.

Splitting royalty checks in house

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen to your royalty check if something happened to your agent, you’re not alone. In fact, if you’ve never had a conflict with your agent, changed agents or had an agent leave the business, the country or predecease you, you’re in the minority. Unless your agent has a trust in place for distributing funds, you may wait until probate is complete before receiving due royalties. Include a clause in your contract where royalties are split in house with your percentage coming directly to you. It’s a much cleaner arrangement.

An interactive, up-to-date marketing plan

The truth of the matter is, publishing houses budget very little for an author’s first book. There are no numbers, awards or reviews on past books to advertise and, with competing novels coming out in the same month, marketing departments push the tried and true, previous bestselling, award-winning authors. That doesn’t mean a first time author should be left high and dry. Self-promotion is expensive. A publisher should assign an author’s novel to a contact in the marketing department who furnishes an author with a sound plan that includes interviews, blog posts, reviews and a presence on the publisher’s website. Email and talk with this person fairly often during the pre-publishing period. Never assume they are handling everything without you.

Good luck and may your search be successful and your decisions wise.
Please visit me at: jeanettebaker.com
Facebook: Jeanette Baker – author
Amazon is offering WITCH WOMAN for .99 for the month of February
About Jeanette Baker
Jeanette Baker is the award-winning author of fifteen novels, published by Pocket, Kensington and Mira Books, many of them set in the lush countryside of historical and contemporary Ireland where she lives and writes during the summer months. Her ancestors, the O’Flahertys, hail from Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands located off the coast of Galway. She takes great pride in the prayer posted by the English over the ancient city gates, ‘From the wrath of the O’Flahertys, may the good Lord deliver us.’
Lauded as an author who has created a niche in the world of the time-travel paranormal, Jeanette’s previous stories have all taken place in Scotland and Ireland. Convinced that America has its own mystical elements, she set WITCH WOMAN in Salem, Massachusetts.
Jeanette graduated from the University of California at Irvine and holds a Masters Degree in Education. For the remainder of the year, she teaches in Southern California, reads constantly, attempts to navigate the confusing world of Facebook and, more recently e-publishing, concocts creations from interesting cook books and enjoys the company of friends and her grown children. She is the RITA award-winning author of the paranormal NELL.
You can visit Jeanette’s website at jeanettebaker.com

About Witch Woman
The first time Maggie McBride set foot in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts she was two years old, completely alone and stark naked. Now, thirty years later, a clairvoyant with a gift for profiling kidnappers, she is back to fulfill a personal quest. Armed with an ancient spinning wheel inherited from Annie McBride, her adoptive mother, she intends to solve the mystery of her sudden, unexpected appearance in The Old Burying Point Cemetery. Her only clue is the recurring dream of a woman from another time, a woman with a spinning wheel, an unusual whistle, and the same genetic mutation Maggie has, one brown eye, the other blue. As Maggie’s spinning improves, her ability to visit the past strengthens and she finds herself being drawn into a world that existed four centuries before, a terrifying world she would have inhabited except for the courage and magick of one woman.
Abigail-1692
In the meeting room, Inquisitors advance upon Abigail March and her child, Margaret She marshals her powers and channels the forces of nature. The world shifts and blackens. A strange roaring obliterates all sound and the air is thick with smoke. Bystanders are painfully seared, unable to move or breathe. Eventually, the air clears. But Abigail has been only partially successful. Three-year-old Margaret has disappeared through a time portal. For years Abigail searches to recall it. One night as the earth passed between the moon and sun, she is able to slip through the window, but the small community of Salem is no longer recognizable. Abigail turns to her powers and her spinning, sending out her summons to the universe, mindful of her shrinking time table, the enemies who followed her and the narrowing portal that will lead her home.

Keywords:

Love, Romance, Passion

2012-01-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

Get into Bed with Jeanette Baker (Author Interview)

by Keira on January 23, 2012 · 0 comments

in A-C, Author Interviews

Keira: What about rags to riches stories appeals to you?
Jeanette Baker: For the same reason we cheer for the underdog and search for a tissue when something happens to an animal or a child in a film, we applaud a spunky hero or heroine. Fairness is an issue for most of us. Injustice is difficult to tolerate. Novels and films that speak to injustice invoke our strongest emotions. I’m one of the crowd when it comes to that sort of conflict.
Keira: I love how you and the heroine both share big moves. Half of the year you spend in California and the other half in Ireland while your heroine, Meghann McCarthy changed countries. What’s the best part about living in two countries, what’s the hardest part?
Jeanette: Where do I begin? Leaving California for Ireland is like flying to a different planet. California is home, with all its comforts, its predictability and its choices. My family lives in California. My friends are available for a leisurely lunch or a quick cup of coffee, for shopping, happy hour and yoga. Because I live in the community where I teach elementary school as well as an occasional Emeritus writing class, it is impossible for me to attempt an excursion outside my home without meeting someone I know. My life is busy. Choices are plentiful. Organization is a must and writing moments are few.
The countryside of Ireland, on the other hand is an adventure, the small villages, dimly lit pubs, the music and afternoon tea, the friendly people with their lovely brogues and the biggest draw of all, a thousand years of history. However, it is also, for an American, an extremely inconvenient country. Garbage disposals are nonexistent, as are window screens, Splenda, ice in drinks, coffee refills, maple syrup, temperature controlled buildings and Starbucks.
I know my way fairly well around the tiny, traffic-clogged streets of Tralee. I’ve learned to drive with confidence on the other side of the road, negotiating the roundabouts with my manual transmission. I convert Fahrenheit to Celsius like a pro, grocery shop daily and grow fuchsia and hydrangeas like the natives, but I’m still a stranger, a blow-in, they call me, one of those who is not, and will never, be “a local.” Except for my soon-to-be husband, the primary reason for my annual trek, I know no one beyond a pleasant, “Hallo,” and I like it that way. In Ireland my days are my own. In Ireland, I write. The inspiration is huge. Around every bend of the road, every lichen-shrouded ruin, there is another story to tell.
Keira: Defending a loved one – in court or not – your take:
Jeanette: I’m not an attorney, but I imagine defending a loved one in court is similar to performing surgery on the loved one. I don’t know if it’s forbidden but for obvious reasons it’s frowned upon. Most of us, including attorneys and physicians, are typically not objective about those we love. I believe objectivity is a necessary factor in the courtroom.
Keira: How do you define love?
Jeanette: For me, love is whatever makes me step back, give up, endure discomfort, inconvenience or pain to be sure those I love do not. Love is serious and lasts forever.
Keira: Bragging time – tell us about yourself and what you are working on next!
Jeanette: Nell, an Irish paranormal similar in style to Irish Lady, will be released later this year by Sourcebooks. After that, my newest endeavor is a contemporary paranormal set in Tralee. The working title is HANNIE RISING. It’s the story of a man in his prime who believes he’s been taken to the pearly gates too soon and negotiates his way back home in the form of a stranger to befriend his wife, and grown children. Meanwhile, Johannah, his wife has come into her own, becoming a person he doesn’t quite recognize. Tralee, its inhabitants and their wicket wit feature strongly in the story.
Buy: Irish Lady

This post was written by...

Keira – who has written 1031 posts on Love Romance Passion.
Keira's favorite type of heroes are blind, scarred, and tortured... yes, she understands those should be separate, but all 3 at once is also nice! She enjoys historical romances best and adores audio books because great narrators turn books into auditory/mental movies (and she loves her romantic dramas like Pride and Prejudice/North and South!) Learn more about Keira in My Instant Turn Ons, Offs, and Ifs.

Thoughts in Progress: Author Jeanette Baker: Ireland Verses US Writing S...

2012-01-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Thoughts in Progress: Author Jeanette Baker: Ireland Verses US Writing S...: I’m delighted to welcome award-winning author Jeanette Baker back to Thoughts in Progress as she tours blogdom with her latest release,...

Writing in California, Writing in Ireland - What's the Difference?

2012-01-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Check out www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com/ for my January 4th guest post.

A New Generation of Men

2012-01-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking about this new generation of men, those born in the mid-70s and later. They’re different from their fathers and grandfathers. They’re more educated, they know wine, they expect their wives to contribute financially, and they’re hands-on dads. They walk their children to school, attend parent conferences and participate in doctor visits. They cook and clean and take their turns at staying home with a sick child. All good.

However, with all good things, there comes a price. One can only do so much. Sometimes the price is the disappearance of a do-it-yourself competence. More often than not, today’s young men call Triple A to change a blowout or Angie’s List to mend a fence, build a deck, install a skylight.

My father was old school. He didn’t cook and he didn’t clean. He knew nothing about wine and he never walked us to school, nor did he stay home with us when we were ill. What he did was navigate our road trips, take us sailing, wait up if we came in late and sentence us to weed pulling when he deemed our infractions serious.

He also supported our family and paid our bills. Whatever money my mother earned was hers. He kept up the yard, painted the house, fixed the cars, checked our tires, put up Christmas lights, solved all plumbing and electrical issues and authorized final decisions. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was mighty. In the early years, he held three jobs while earning his degree, a credit, he was quick to point out, to the GI bill. He was the father of daughters, “an incredible piece of luck,” he would say. With the wisdom of Solomon, he administered a gentle justice. There was no doubt in our family that discipline prevailed.

Growing up in a family where father knew best was a gift I didn’t appreciate until I became a parent. The security of having an intact family, of knowing that wouldn’t change, the comfort of being a phone call away from the sane and deliberate response of a man who weighed his words carefully, and with discipline and integrity gave his children a balance, a basic optimism, a belief that, no matter what, the world would eventually right itself.

His insight was priceless and completely different from my mother’s. It was a masculine insight and it, inevitably, awed us into behaviors that have carried us through the hard places. My father died 16 years ago, yet there isn't a day I don't remember his words, words like, "You won't learn anything by listening to yourself talk," or "An education is never wasted. The years will pass anyway. You may as well have something at the end of the journey."

There’s nothing wrong with knowing wine and it’s commendable and convenient for both parents to share roles. But, sometimes, it’s nice to have someone around who can contribute what you can’t.

Everything Irish from an American Perspective: Paying the Piper

2011-12-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Everything Irish from an American Perspective: Paying the Piper: I’ve been negligent, lately, where my blog is concerned. My excuse is I’ve been preparing food, candy and cookies, ham and phyllo-wrapped s...

Paying the Piper

2011-12-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

I’ve been negligent, lately, where my blog is concerned. My excuse is I’ve been preparing food, candy and cookies, ham and phyllo-wrapped salmon, green beans with sherried mushrooms, roasted potatoes, caramel-chocolate angel food cake, peppermint bark…you get the picture.

Now, the New Year is upon us and it’s time to pay the piper which, in my world, means losing the 10 pounds I’ve gained since September. The biggest problem is finding a diet plan I haven’t already used and I’ve used quite a few. Interestingly, they all worked…for a while. You might ask the logical question: why don’t I go back to one that has already been successful? The answer is, I can only endure a diet once.

This year’s weight loss choice is Mark MacDonald’s Body Confidence inspired by his book and subsequent interview on CNN. I like the idea of eating constantly (every 3-4 hours) balanced meals of 250 calories at a time. I’m not crazy about the amount of recommended exercise but I understand that I can no longer eat what I want without moving around more than I like. Fortunately, I live in California and the weather is conducive to outdoor activities. Still, I’m a sedentary person, always have been. I enjoy a walk on the beach now and then (beaches are nice and flat) and I truly look forward to strolling around the mall as long as it includes lunch and spending money but, truthfully, I’d rather read a book, see a movie, take a drive, check my email or talk on the phone than lace up my hiking boots and attempt anything more than a 15% uphill grade.

I know what you’re thinking: a healthy body weight isn’t a fly-by-night diet plan to be discarded once your ideal weight is achieved. It’s a forever thing, which, in my opinion, if a person loves food, is the most depressing truism imaginable. I simply can’t manage a lifetime of food deprivation. There are those who say that food represents more than just a salve for hunger. It certainly does for me. It’s delicious and satisfying to eat and interesting and creative to prepare. The sharing of food with people we like and love is one of life’s pleasures. What would happen if Christmas came without cookies or candy was no longer a part of Halloween? I, for one, would be traumatized.

I’m actually fortunate as far as body type is concerned. It takes a great many calories before they really show. I’m grateful for my internal switch which doesn’t allow me to eat enough to grow out of my clothes. However, I’ve learned that a person may be thin with not enough lean muscle mass and too much body fat. Which is why, once again, I search, not so much for the perfect diet, but for one I can manage most of the time. Any recommendations are welcome.

The Way We Were

2011-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

My friend, Cathi, flew down from Sacramento to Orange County the other day to take her grandchildren, all four of them, aged two and under, to the Santa Train for their annual Christmas picture. She visits frequently, at least once a month, running from Tustin to Ladera Ranch to San Diego, enduring the expense and inconvenience of plane tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms just to be in the same breathing space as the four little people who occupy her thoughts and her heart.

I don’t miss grandchildren. It could be because I don’t have any yet. It could be that my caring pheromones have been used up by my own two children. It could also be that the very idea of once again climbing up that cliff of worry over fevers, late nights, homework, hurt feelings, is beyond anything I care to imagine.

Cathi and I became close friends during a common period of transition in our lives. We were the same age, both single, we worked together and we remarried at about the same time. Then she moved to Northern California and our lives changed dramatically. We’re still friends but our visits and our communication are less frequent. Many of the tangibles my generation has grown up with are gone, bookstores, for example and public phone booths. Three years ago Kodak produced its last roll of film. The company, once the largest single employer in Rochester, New York, has enough money to continue operations for another year. Video stores are gone and doughnut shops in my neck of the woods have been replaced by Starbucks. Newspapers, my favorite indulgence, are fighting to stay alive. Phones, when I was a child, were the product of the Bell Telephone Co and the bill for local service was $5.00 a month. Now, phones are information devices unimagined ten years ago and the cost of service is multiples more than it was. Last year, on a train in Ireland, I overheard two elderly ladies dressed in tweed suits and laces blouses discussing telephones. “All I want,” one said, “is a phone that I can push buttons and reach someone on the other end.” The other lady laughed. “I don’t think they have those anymore.”

Life isn’t easier now, nor is it more organized, particularly for the technologically challenged. It certainly isn’t less expensive. People seem to “need” more than they did a generation ago. My classroom has a Smart board and my students have Ipods, courtesy of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. My head is reeling as I try to keep up with new applications. I have to admit the immediate gratification is fun and my students are far more engaged than they were when I was their only focus.

I’ve come to realize that everything changes. It’s our only constant. My father died 16 years ago and yet he was buying and selling commodities on his computer. After his death, one of the first things my mother did was give away the computer. She had no interest. Technology terrified her. Very soon after she was unable to manage her VCR or her stereo, a sign of the Alzheimer’s that would eventually take her life.

Personally, I’m not comfortable with change. I love old things, antique furniture, jewelry, first editions, old buildings and cities that boast a thousand years of history. But change is a constant and, for me, it’s more frightening to reject it. As long as I embrace change, as long as it’s a challenge, I know my mind is strong. 2012 will come whether I want it to or not, with all its changes. I may as well look forward to them, and to the next few decades. I very much want to be around to see it all.

The Thanksgiving Grinch

2011-11-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Black Friday has come and gone. My only purchase of the day was a Christmas tree, a modest 5-6 foot Noble fir from the Mountain Pine fresh Christmas tree farm which I won’t pick up until the entire house is de-Thanksgivinged. I’m an official Thanksgiving Grinch, grateful the day is over, particularly the food of the season, turkey, yams, mashed potatoes and pumpkin. I’m craving salad, fresh spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers with absolutely no protein, no candied walnuts and absolutely no bread products.

What is it about this time of the year that causes people to indulge? Eight pounds is the average weight gain for the holiday season. EIGHT POUNDS! 28,000 calories over what our bodies need to maintain our current sizes! Those statistics alone are worthy of exclamation points. I suppose the cold has something to do with it and those clothes that camouflage the worst of our consumptions, except that California is warm enough to walk around with bare feet and our wardrobes usually work year round.

I threw away what was left of the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the chocolate torte, everything with too much butter, saturated fat and calories. I saved the turkey, the cranberries and the yams. My family isn’t big on leftovers. After a turkey sandwich or two, thankfully, they’re done.

I’m a fairly decent cook, meaning that I’m great at finding other people’s new recipes and trying them out. However, I’m a washout with large joints of meat, rib roasts, turkey and ham. Except for the latter, which only requires heating, I can’t tell when anything over 3 pounds is done and, for some inexplicable reason, my meat thermometers (I’ve tried two) don’t register correct temperatures. Someone suggested that I’m not inserting them into the thickest part of the thigh but then no one else in the vicinity seems to know exactly where that is either. I’m strictly a “roast for 3 hours at 350 degrees” kind of person, except that whoever decided roasting an unstuffed 12 pound turkey at 350 for 3 hours likes her turkey to taste like jerky.

Inevitably, my main course is either blood-rare or bone-dry. On the few occasions when I manage to get it just right, I have no idea what I’ve done differently. This year was no exception. The turkey, once again, was over-cooked, leading to an overindulgence of everything else except the vegetables.

We could go out because, after all, Thanksgiving is about family togetherness and being grateful. We could also become, for one day, vegetarians. I’ve hinted at both, to no avail. Apparently, my family doesn’t mind eating dry turkey. “It’s enough,” said my son, “to smell it cooking and then to eat too much of everything else.”

IRISH LADY Review

2011-11-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

Irish Lady by Jeanette Baker
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
genre: paranormal, historical, sci-fi/fantasy
Length: Full Length (325 pages)
Heat Level: spicy
Rating: 4 books
Reviewed by Lavender

Meghann McCarthy escaped the slums of Belfast to become a rich, successful attorney in London. Yet she can never quite banish Ireland from her heart, or forget Michael Devlin, the boy she once loved with a passion that nearly tore her apart. When Michael, a notorious Irish nationalist, becomes involved in a vicious court case, Meghann agrees to defend him. But even as she jeopardizes her hard-won success, she finds the true power and spirit of the Irish heritage she has too long denied...and the courage to face her love for Michael.
Flawlessly blended paranormal aspects and gripping Irish politics make for an exciting romance. The adventure taking place in the 1990's is the perfect complement to the emotional parallel story happening centuries before.

Interesting characters make up this story, from the brave and devoted heroine, Meghann, to Michael, a heart-breakingly tragic Irish hero. The chemistry between them is great.

Queen Elizabeth the First interacts with the adventurous, damaged characters in the sixteenth century story. It's fascinating reading their interaction. Values of the past and present-day values sometime compare strongly, but otherwise, they can clash. Could things that were acceptable or at least tolerated centuries ago, and no longer are, happen anyway now? And if so, could the offending parties get away with it? This book explores treachery.

As the book switches back and forth between the two stories, tension is kept up, so readers are not likely to be disappointed. Both stories hold great appeal. This is a paranormal (due to the ghost character visiting the lead in the nineteen nineties), historical, and modern-day book, but it is also somewhat of a thriller in a sense. The modern characters are in great danger, and the clock is ticking.

The setting is vivid, and the history takes a reader along on a wild ride. Ireland comes vibrantly to life in the mind of a reader. Different themes come into play such as love, freedom, fidelity, friendship, and so much more, mixed together with an exciting plot.

Love and life are the prizes. The alternative is unthinkable. Not everyone
in this story will have a happy ending, but those who do will be inspiring. Readers who are fans of these genres will probably love this book. I know I did.

Blue Nights

2011-11-20T00:56:00.000-08:00

I finished Joan Didion’s new book, BLUE NIGHTS, reluctantly switching off my Kindle in the wee hours. Like Anne Rivers Siddons, Alice Hoffman and Anna Quindlen, Didion delivers the kind of prose that makes a reader stop, breathe deeply, and wait out the rush of emotion the author's words bring to the surface. In the case of BLUE NIGHTS it is pain, wrenching and emotional, the kind of pain that the death of a child brings.

The book is about Didion’s daughter, Quintana Roo, who died at age 39 after battling a complexity of illnesses for two years. Adding to the author’s tragic circumstance is the loss of her husband, John Dunne, who died of a heart attack shortly after the collapse of their daughter.

Despite the subject matter, the book isn’t morose. It’s a revelation, a quick jolt of the familiar, bringing to mind an, “Oh, yes, I remember feeling like that.” It’s also the story of a family living a privileged life in the golden age of Hollywood, a working mother, a man in love with his wife, an adored child and a marriage that lasted a lifetime. Anecdotes of celebrity dinner parties, movie scripts and films are interspersed with flashbacks of family scenes and lovely words like, “What remained until now unfamiliar, what I recognize in the photographs but failed to see at the time they were taken, are the startling depths and shallows of her expressions, the quicksilver changes of mood.” What mother hasn’t seen long ago photos of her child and wondered how she could have missed what should have been obvious?

Chapter 1 opens with the explanation for the title, BLUE NIGHTS, something only recently pointed out to me, a native Californian accustomed to the quick drop of the sun into an even briefer twilight. “In certain latitudes there comes a span of time approaching and following the summer solstice, some weeks in all, when the twilights turn long and blue. This period of blue nights does not occur in subtropcial California, where I lived for much of the time I will be talking about here and where the end of daylight is fast and lost in the blaze of the dropping sun…To the English it was the gloaming, the glimmer, the glitter, the glisten, the glamour---carrying in its consonants the images of houses shuttering, gardens darkening, grass-lined rivers slipping through shadows…”

Writing doesn’t get much better. The book isn't for everyone. I highly recommend it.

Publishers' Weekly Review for IRISH LADY

2011-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4022-5592-2

Irish Lady

Jeanette Baker. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $12.99 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-4022-5592-2

Baker skillfully blends contemporary and historical romance with a dash of the supernatural in this large-scale tale, first published in 1998, of tumultuous romance during Northern Ireland’s Troubles. In the early 1980s, Meghann McCarthy left behind her impoverished Belfast Catholic neighborhood, torn by urban strife, and her charismatic lover, Michael Devlin, a passionate IRA soldier. Fifteen years later, she’s a leading legal mind in England and he’s accused of murdering a prominent British politician sympathetic to the Irish Republican cause. Meghann takes on Michael’s case, and as their old mutual attraction flares up again, she finds herself strangely dreaming of her ancestor Nuala O’Neill and Nuala’s great love, Rory O’Donnell, one of the 17th century’s last Irish holdouts against Elizabeth I. Baker carries off both complicated romantic plots with panache, but her real achievement lies in avoiding sentimental gushing while accurately depicting the atrocities visited on the Irish by Britain—and by themselves. (Jan.)

Reviewed on: 11/07/2011

A Bucket List?

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

I’m slowing down. I wish I wasn’t, but I am. My energy level isn’t the same as it was when I was 30, or even 40. My body certainly isn’t the same either. I can’t drink caffeinated coffee after 6 and still fall asleep at 11:00. Writing until midnight and rising early are no longer possible and all-nighters are out of the question. Dairy and wheat are a problem. My hair has thinned and my metabolism is slower. My weight isn’t all that much different, but the distribution of flesh doesn’t look at all the same. I forget more than I used to.

According to a graphic illustration in the Monday Health section of the LA Times, my muscle mass has deteriorated to less than one-fourth of what it was when I was 20. I keep the gray hair away with frequent visits to a salon but, other than sun block, my skin is my own and it shows. For some inexplicable reason, my mirror reflects what I want to see, but photos don’t lie. Like Nora Ephron, I hate my neck.

The truth is, none of the above depresses me all that much. Age happens to everyone. The alternative is an attractive corpse and I certainly don’t want to be that. What troubles me is that there is less time ahead than there is behind. As far as I’m concerned, it happened too soon. In Ireland I can’t qualify for a 30 year mortgage because, according to actuary tables, I won’t live to pay it off. In eleven years I will be too old to rent a car in Europe. It probably doesn’t matter because I won't be going anywhere. Air travel has become increasingly painful, cramped seats, crying children, inadequate facilities, delayed flights, all recipes for those terrifying blood clots to which older people are susceptible. The idea that I’m winding down and should start thinking about downsizing, looking into retirement communities, houses without stairs, Medicare plans and AARP membership is more than disconcerting. It’s terrifying. I’m a baby boomer, for heaven’s sake. Not that long ago there were more of us than anyone. The world was ours. Our potential was enormous.

I still love to read, sleep late, travel to new destinations. My dislikes haven’t changed all that much either. But the world has certainly changed and my time is limited. It isn’t possible to see and do everything that appeals to me. I probably should prioritize. I need my own bucket list. It merits deep thought….a week at least.

Enough with the Debates

2011-11-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

I’m tired of politics. I never thought I’d arrive at such a statement. Usually, I’m a political person. I love the debates, the political maneuvering, the pundits and yes, even the gossip. I predict the front runners, the candidates and the winners. I check in with CNN every 30 minutes months before all major elections and I’m out there with my opinions, not always the politically correct ones preferred by my Orange County neighbors, but that doesn’t stop me. The whole Washington DC thing fascinates me. Who are these people who allow the media to expose their lives, criticize their friends and families, rip apart their voting records, their income tax returns, and use their words out of context for a job that appears as frustrating as it is temporary?

But, now, I’m done. I have no idea how many debates the republican presidential candidates have had. They’ve had quite a few. I don’t remember who has what tax plan or who has an unpopular religion or if any of them are religious at all. Someone left his wife when she was gravely ill to marry another woman and someone else was accused of sexual harassment. I don’t remember which one of those is which either. I would rather our leaders didn’t do those things but then I wish Al Gore hadn’t left Tipper and I wish Bill had been faithful to Hillary.

The truth is, I’m no longer paying attention because I’m disappointed. I had great hopes for President Obama. He’s a smart man. I liked his idea that a country is measured by how it treats its poorest citizens rather than how it benefits its richest. I liked the idea that affordable health care should be as much a right as breathing or walking the streets safely. I know I’m naïve when it comes to the maze of the political machine. I wrote a book about a vice-presidential candidate who gave up the nomination for the sake of his wife and family. My agent said to forget the book, that men didn’t do that. I’m sure she’s right, but I wish they did.

Meanwhile, kudos to England. Girls, even those with brothers, can be first to inherit the throne. They can be Prime Ministers, too. What about The House of Lords? Can girls be Lords?

Ernest Hemingway, Florida and Digital Publishing

2011-10-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Florida is a beautiful state. This was my first visit, other than Orlando and Disney World many years ago. I'm a native Californian with the smugness that most of us have regarding the climate, lifestyle, recreational opportunities and, of course, our universities, among them Cal Tech and Stanford rated the best in the WORLD, not just among the best, but the best depending on which survey you read.

Until now I'd disregarded Florida believing it to be a poor second to the Golden State. I was wrong. Florida's fall/winter climate is better than California's. The air is a smogless, breezy warm without the slightest hint of chill. Sunsets are brilliant and long, followed by the kind of coppery pink dusk that I thought Hawaii would have and doesn't. Both the Atlantic and Gulf are calm and comfortable enough for swimming, even in October, and clear enough to watch schools of fish circle just out of reach. The sand is cool, sugar white and powdery, the seafood fresh and delicious, the people kind and welcoming, and then there's the pie. Nothing beats the key lime pie. I rarely turn down any kind of dessert, but the tart sweet cream of Florida's traditional state pie is out of this world. I know Florida has hurricanes and floods, but California has earthquakes and fires and, recently, our share of flooding as well. I'd never considered retiring in Florida or anywhere else other than California, but inexpensive real estate, warm nights and that key lime pie just might change my mind.

The Novelists' Inc. Conference was the reason for my visit. The focus was digital publishing. Until quite recently the organization of published authors frowned on digital publishing, but progress marches on and with the demise of print book stores, eBooks are clearly the wave of the future. Therefore, objections must be put aside. The numbers were clearly explained. Marketing and formatting, social networking and self-publishing were the catch words of the weekend. Industry professionals were eloquent, writers asked pointed questions. I learned a lot. Clearly, those savvy in advertising and promotion will reap the benefits of the self-publishing wave.

I'm still at the overwhelmed stage. Eventually, I expect to make sense of it all. I have a print publisher but I'm anxious to climb aboard the self-publishing bandwagon. It means I'll have to design covers, format text, upload to eBook sites, guest post, compose newsletters and create a fan email list. Interestingly enough, a Twitter or Facebook presence only rates 1.9% as far as bringing in sales, a poor showing compared to Barnes & Noble browsers at 25%, and word of mouth at 14%. (I'm not really sure what word of mouth is if it isn't Twitter and Facebook.)

The good news is self-published authors have control over when a book is published, cover art, marketing and royalties. The bad news is authors must pay for everything up front and hope to recoup their money, much like any other start up business. The other bad news is, what if a writer is good at writing but not so good at cover art and marketing? What if after all that publishing, searching for images, marketing, figuring out finances and working a day job, she falls into bed without a word written?

I visited Ernest Hemingway's Key West house this weekend. Ernest began writing at 6:00 am, fished all afternoon, drank at the local pub all evening and all night wrote impressions of the locals to include in his books. I wonder how he would have handled self-publishing and promotion. Like I said, I'm still at the overwhelmed stage.

Ernest Hemingway's Writing Room

Business and Friendship...to mix or not to mix

2011-10-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

This week I'm traveling to yet another writers' conference. But this time I'm not going for the purposes of selling a novel, promoting a novel, praying for an award or scouting for an agent. This time I'm going purely for information. Although there will be a few editors and agents, I won't be sitting in on their presentations. My focus will be the e-book publishers, authors and marketeers, in other words, the do-it-yourselfers who managed to climb out of the ashes of the print book decline and make a living.

It isn't easy making a living as a writer. The average income of a writer hovers somewhere around where it did 20 years ago, about $17,000 a year, not exactly the kind of salary that makes new college graduates line up for interviews. I did a little better than that in the days when advances were the norm and when I published regularly, one novel a year, occasionally, two. Naively, I assumed the golden years would last forever; I would continue to write books that merited good reviews and, in return, my publishers would accept everything I wrote, sign the contracts, and the checks, promote my books and ask for more.

That didn't happen. Publishing houses merged, editors were fired and authors, even those who had at some point in their careers achieved bestseller status, were released when their contracts came up for renewal. It happens to the best of us. Sales are everything. When publishers tighten their belts, shelf space is at a premium. An author is only as valuable as her last few books. Writing may be an art, but publishing is a business and unless an author wants to write without selling, she must embrace a new marketing plan. Hence, those of us who cherish our privacy like priceless jewels, who take deep breaths and give ourselves encouraging pep talks in front of the mirror before every social event, find that we must now not only write, edit and publish our books, we must develop an online presence in order to sell them as well.

I'm not enjoying that part at all. I do like Facebook. I enjoy keeping up with my friends, reading their congratulations in good times and their commiserations when times aren't quite so good. I love the photos, the recommendations, the recipes, the travel suggestions. But I don't love mentioning my books. Maybe it's because my late father once told me that business and friendships aren't a good mix. He was right about most things so I assume he was probably right about that, too. All of which is why I'm heading off to Florida for the Novelists' Inc. Conference to figure out a way to develop that online presence everyone keeps talking about, the one that will develop business relationships, sell my books and not presume upon my friends. No wonder I'm breathing deeply and talking to myself in front of the mirror.

I Don't Know How She Does It

2011-10-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

I didn’t see the movie, but I recently finished Allison Pearson’s book, I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT. It’s written in that British chick-lit-speak that became popular during the BRIDGET JONE’S DIARY years, except that I didn’t find it as appealing as BRIDGET JONES, just snappier and more repetitious. The story of a young mother battling the impossible tasks of her dual careers as an investment broker/wife and mother begins with her smashing the crusts of store-bought mince pies, then sprinkling them with sugar to look homemade at two o’clock in the morning in order to compete with the stay-at-home moms bringing treats to a children’s play. The scene works, but as the novel progresses we find our heroine claiming to love her high-powered job enough to settle for a manipulative, exorbitantly expensive nanny who loses receipts, a long-suffering husband and a boss who disregards the most basic of human needs. How could a woman who managed to claw her way into “a man’s world,” her words, meekly settle for the kind of life that makes the meat-packing factories of Upton Sinclair’s, THE JUNGLE, appear relaxing? I found the book exaggerated and hard to swallow. The author, although a working mom, admittedly, never worked in the field she describes.

I suppose what really bothers me is that my daughter, also the product of a working mother, raved about the book. In fact, it’s her copy that I borrowed. The possibility that my own child related to the attention-deprived children of Kate Reddy, appalled me. I was a teacher for pity’s sake, home after school, on weekends, holidays and summers. I made breakfast, lunch and dinner, volunteered frequently, helped with homework and chauffeured, to and from, practices and games. What more could I have done, I wondered, except not work at all, an option, I believed, wasn’t possible for me? And yet, was it? Could we have lived on less, moved to a less affluent area, shopped more carefully, eschewed the lessons and summer camps, the sports’ fees, vacations and dinners out? Would my children have benefited from a more relaxed mother who didn’t panic when the thermometer pulled out of a protesting mouth read 100 degrees at 8:30 in the morning? I’ll never know. Those days are long gone.

“Mothers have enough to do at home,” my daughter states emphatically. “Read the book. How can anyone possibly manage a life like that and raise anything but neurotic children?” I stare at her, mutely wondering how she can ignore the obvious. Finally, I muster the courage to broach the question. “Was it really so terrible?” She hesitates, formulating an answer somewhere between her usual brutal honesty and the natural desire of a loving daughter to protect her mother’s feelings. “Summers were good,” she replies, “and holidays were great. You always made holidays great.”

Then my son called from Chicago. “Honestly, how would you rate your childhood experience?” I asked him. He laughed. “Are you serious? I had a great childhood, Mom. No one had it better than us.” My relief was embarrassing.

Two children. Six years apart. One female, one male. The same parents. Go figure.